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The writer Rudyard Kipling visited Bovington in 1923 and, after viewing the damaged tanks that had been salvaged at the end of the First World War, recommended a museum should be set up.[2] Accordingly a shed was established to house the collection but was not opened to the general public until 1947.[2]

George Forty, who was appointed Director of the Museum in 1982, expanded and modernized the collection. He retired in 1993 after which he received an OBE.[3] The museum established its own YouTube channel to teach about the tanks in January 2010.[4]David Fletcher, who had been an historian at the museum since 1982, retired in 2012 and was also appointed an MBE "for his services to the history of armoured warfare".[5]

This hall holds some of the most important tanks and AFVs in history, with a supporting collection housed in a multimedia exhibition. It follows the story of the tank, from its invention in 1915 through the 20th century and into the future.[11]